Invest in Medicaid for All New Yorkers

We urge the Legislature to include additional Medicaid funding, beyond what has been proposed. The following Medicaid investments are critical and should be adopted in the final state budget agreement:

1. The retention of increased support for safety net providers, as proposed in the one-house budgets’ targeted Medicaid investments, and additional funding to increase and broaden those investments to ensure supportive funding is available to all hospitals and nursing homes statewide.

2. Medicaid rate increases for all providers, over and above the 1% increase included in the one-house budgets, to reflect the impact of inflation on wages and other costs.

3. The largest possible funding increases for hospital behavioral health services, including mental health and substance use services (both one-house budgets include increases of varying levels).

Medicaid severely underpays all healthcare providers that serve the state’s more than seven million Medicaid enrollees (more than one out of every three New Yorkers), with program payment rates stagnant since 2008.

New York's healthcare providers have not recovered financially or operationally from the COVID-19 pandemic. The past two years have forever changed the cost structure of all providers, especially in the area of workforce.

Invest more in Medicaid. Help ensure the quality and sustainability of New York's healthcare system.